12 min read
In the middle of 2024, someone recommended I read The 5AM Club by Robin Sharma. Now, let me be clear — the book is fantastic. It’s inspiring, motivational, and does exactly what it’s supposed to do: make you feel like a complete failure if you’re not already waking up at 5 AM to conquer the world.
So, naturally, I spent the rest of 2024 wrestling with the guilt of not being a “5 AM person.” Every time I hit snooze or rolled out of bed at a “respectable” 7:30 AM, Robin Sharma’s words would echo in my mind, taunting me: “Legendary people don’t sleep in!”
Fast forward to Christmas time — when everyone suddenly decides to take stock of how catastrophically they’ve wasted the past 12 months. You know the drill: overcooked biryani, recycled gift hampers, and an extra-large serving of deserts. That’s when it hit me — the guilt from The 5AM Club wasn’t going away. If anything, it was yelling louder than “The Final Countdown” at a New Year’s Eve party.
So, like everyone else who makes overly ambitious resolutions in the haze of holiday regret, I decided 2025 would be different. This would be my year. I was going to wake up early. Really early.
Now, Robin Sharma suggests waking up at 5 AM, but I thought, “Why stop there?” Clearly, if 5 AM is good, 4 AM must be legendary. (Spoiler alert: it’s not.) My brain was saying, “This is a bad idea,” but my ego was like, “No, no. This is how greatness starts.”
And so, there it was — my grand resolution for January 2025: wake up at 4 AM every single day. A decision that, looking back, may have been more caffeine-fueled delusion than genuine self-improvement.
Initial Enthusiasm: Optimism Meets Overconfidence
The first day of 2025 was a no-brainer. I had made a commitment. And as the famous Bollywood dialogue goes, “Ek baar jo maine commitment kar di, toh main khud ki bhi nahi sunta” (“Once I’ve made a commitment, I don’t even listen to myself”). That became my mantra. A commitment is a commitment.
But when the alarm rang at 4 AM, my body had other ideas. It quickly reminded me that I’d only gone to bed two hours earlier, thanks to the New Year’s Eve party. My brain whispered, “Postponing by a day isn’t breaking the commitment — it’s just being practical!” So, I hit snooze. Twice. Okay, maybe three times. I made a double commitment to myself that tomorrow, the snooze button and I would no longer be friends.
The guilt hit me hard when I eventually woke up at 9 AM. Determined to redeem myself, I decided to go to bed early that night — 10 PM sharp. This time, I didn’t just set one alarm. I set four alarms at 10-minute intervals, just to be quadruple-sure I’d wake up at the quadruple hour of the day. (Yes, 4 AM still sounds criminally early no matter how many alarms you set.)
And when the first alarm rang, I shot out of bed like a cat hearing a vacuum cleaner. My dramatic leap startled my wife, who nearly clobbered me for scaring her half to death with my overenthusiastic bed-jumping.
The Dawn of Regret
I stumbled into the kitchen like a sleep-deprived zombie and brewed a strong cup of coffee. Looking out the window, I hoped to feel inspired by the serene stillness of dawn. Instead, all I saw was pitch darkness and the kind of creepy silence that makes you question not just your life choices but also whether humanity was a mistake.
Still, I powered through. By 5 AM, I decided to embrace my newfound “morning person” identity. I started with some stretches. Then came some push-ups. And by “some push-ups,” I mean exactly three before my arms and shoulders screamed, “Not today, buddy.”
Crunch Time
The real kicker workout was going to be crunches. 100 crunches split into two sets, I told myself, fully expecting to channel my inner fitness influencer.
Set 1:
- One — Here we go!
- Two — This is easy.
- Three — Wow, I’m crushing it!
- Four — Wait, this feels a bit… challenging.
- Five — Oh no, why does it hurt this much?
- Six — Oh my God.
- Seven — STOP! Somebody call an ambulance!
By crunch eight, my abs felt like they were hosting a live performance of Pain: The Musical. I lay flat on the floor, clutching my stomach and whispering motivational quotes like “Slow and steady wins the race” to justify my surrender. I decided that moderation was the key to success and vowed to take things easier from now on. And the second set was pending right? Well I will leave it to your imagination to imagine how I did the second set.
Recovery Mode
Since it was a holiday, the rest of the day was spent on the couch, undoing every calorie I had burned earlier with copious snacks and TV binges. My fitness journey had officially begun — with a bang, a groan, and a whole lot of soreness.
Battle of the Snooze Button
The next two days were almost a copy-paste of my new morning routine — with one small but crucial evolution: I was hitting snooze just a little longer each day. By day three, my “4:00 AM sharp” commitment had become “4:15-ish,” and by day five, it was teetering around 4:30.
To be fair, the first week of January is practically a holiday for most offices in Sydney, so I wasn’t stressed about work. My only goal was to conquer the 8th crunch — something that remained a pipe dream as my body refused to go past crunch number 7. It’s like my abs signed a union agreement to stop at seven, no matter what motivational speeches I gave myself.
On the night of January 7th, I lay in bed, reflecting on what I had achieved so far in 2025. “Not too bad,” I told myself. Sure, my wake-up time had gradually slid from 4:00 to closer to 4:50, but hey, I was still getting up early, wasn’t I?
That’s when the brilliant idea struck. What if I used technology to save me from myself? Enter: the Math Alarm App. This wonderful creation doesn’t stop ringing until you solve a math problem. Surely, this would get me out of bed, I thought.
Big mistake.
The X That Broke Me
At 4:00 AM sharp, the alarm blared, demanding that I solve for x. The equation it threw at me was something like, 3x + 7 = 19. Sounds easy, right? Well, at 4 in the morning, it felt like trying to crack the Da Vinci Code while half-asleep.
After five minutes of squinting at the screen and scribbling nonsense in my notebook, I did what any rational adult would do: I shoved the phone under my pillow and tried to pretend it wasn’t there. But the app, in its infinite cruelty, refused to be silenced. It just kept vibrating and buzzing like an angry bee under my head.
The buzzing soon disturbed my wife, who woke up and gave me a death glare that could curdle milk. Left with no choice — and a growing sense of panic — I finally sat up and solved the bloody equation.
Now, let me just say, I’ve always wondered why mathematicians are so obsessed with x. Of all the letters in the alphabet, why x? There are 25 other perfectly good options! Teachers could ask us to “find the value of o” or even p, but no — everything has to revolve around x. It’s like x is the Beyoncé of the alphabet, demanding all the attention.
Anyway, I managed to “find x,” but at what cost? My sanity? My sleep? My marriage?
First Great Negotiation : Sleep Vs Sanity (For me and my partner)
By the end of that ordeal, I made a strategic decision to keep my peace — and more importantly, my wife’s. I postponed the first alarm to 4:40 AM instead of 4:00. Sure, I was technically bending my commitment a little, but some battles just aren’t worth fighting.
From that day forward, I consistently woke up at 5:00 AM. Was it the legendary 4:00 AM wake-up I’d envisioned? No. But it was progress. And most importantly, my wife stopped plotting my untimely demise.
Hard Reality: Office is No Sleeping Ground
I marched into the second week of January like a warrior — fully committed, fully disciplined, and waking up exactly at 5 AM, just as Robin Sharma demanded.
The first week had been easy. I woke up at absurdly early hours, but then I made up for it with luxurious afternoon naps that would put a well-fed cat to shame. But then, life decided to throw a twist — because the second week of January meant back to work.
Sydney’s offices had reopened with a big bang, supercharged with all the fake enthusiasm of people pretending they’re excited about “a fresh start.” HR emails about “New Year, New You!” flooded inboxes, and suddenly, productivity expectations skyrocketed to compensate for the time lost in December’s Christmas coma.
However, there was a slight problem. They did know about my 5 AM rituals.
The Office Struggles Begin
By the time the clock struck 2 PM, my body was begging for its usual midday snooze session. But instead of a cozy nap, I was stuck in back-to-back meetings, trying to compassionately negotiate with my eyelids to stay open.
One particularly boring meeting nearly had me caught napping. You know the kind — the ones where someone drones on about synergies and roadmaps, and suddenly, you start nodding along, but not because you agree — because you’re literally nodding off.
That’s when I knew: This isn’t working out.
The second Great Negotiation: Sleep vs. Sanity
By midweek, I found myself in deep self-negotiation. If I push my wake-up time just a little… I reasoned, then maybe I won’t look like a zombie at work. Half an hour more in bed = half an hour less fighting sleep in meetings. It’s science and I am a science graduate after all!
And so, there I was, moving the goalpost once again.
By the end of the second week, my alarms were officially set for 5:30 AM, and I was practically jumping out of bed by 5:50 AM.
Sure, it wasn’t exactly the legendary 4 AM wake-up club, but hey, progress is progress. And more importantly — I wasn’t getting caught dozing off in front of my boss.
The Battle Begins: Yoga vs. Exercising
Like every other fitness enthusiast fascinated by those high-energy aerobic workouts, I had convinced myself that crunches, sit-ups, and push-ups were my gateway to peak fitness. The only problem? My body had other plans.
No matter how much motivation I carried into each workout, my muscles had formed a secret resistance movement dedicated to preventing me from ever hitting double-digit reps. Push-ups? Seven and collapse. Crunches? Nine and regret. Burpees? Seven and reconsidering all life choices.
Meanwhile, the fitness influencers I followed on Instagram made it look effortless — grinning as they effortlessly knocked out 50, 100, or even 200 reps while barely breaking a sweat. I, on the other hand, was on track to become the world champion of lying on the floor questioning my existence.
Between my early wake-up struggles and the ever-growing stress at work, panic started creeping in. Was I just not cut out for fitness?
Enter: My Wife, The Yoga Teacher.
She watched my struggles with the wisdom of someone who had already won this war years ago. “You can try every exercise, but the sukoon (peace) you get from yoga and meditation is unmatched. I bet you.” She said to me.
Now, normally, my engineering brain would throw a scientific argument back at her. But this time? I simply bowed to the Yoga Expert and said, “Thank you.” Because let’s face it — if someone in your house is a trained professional at something, it’s best to just listen.
And so, with newfound enlightenment, I declared: Yoga and meditation it is!
Engineering Meets Enlightenment
The following Monday, at 6:00 AM sharp, I sat cross-legged on my yoga mat, ready to unlock my inner peace.
Now, my wife, being the textbook yogi, starts her sessions with asanas (postures) before moving to meditation and Savasana (a relaxing pose). But my engineering brain loves to experiment. Why follow the traditional order when you can optimize things? Years of my Project Management at its best.
So I reversed the sequence.
I started with meditation, did a few rounds of Pranayama (breathing exercises), and then, feeling quite proud of myself, laid down in Savasana.
“This isn’t so bad,” I thought.
And then…I woke up 45 minutes later.
My body had taken my Savasana (which literally means “corpse pose”) way too seriously. I had entered what can only be described as an unauthorized nap. Worse, I checked the time and realized I was about to miss my morning huddle at work.
Great. Day One of my mindful journey, and I was already late to office.
The Unexpected Benefit
Despite the panic and the Olympic sprint to get to work, something felt different that day. I wasn’t my usual groggy self. I felt… awake. No mid-meeting eyelid drooping.
And as the days passed and my Pranayama practice grew more consistent, something unexpected happened — my energy levels shot up. My mind felt clearer. I could focus for longer periods.
Was this the magic of yoga that my wife had been preaching about all these years?
Maybe. But one thing was for sure: Savasana should come last.
Sleep Entropy: Finding My Sleep Equilibrium
By the last week of January, I had come to a profound realization — entropy, equilibrium, and all those scientific theories are absolutely true. No matter how hard I tried to fight it, my alarm clock and I eventually settled into an unspoken agreement: 6:00 AM alarm, 6:45 AM bed exit (give or take 15 minutes of existential dread).
Now, to an average Aussie, this might sound completely normal — nothing worth writing an entire monologue about. But what they don’t know is I don’t jump into bed early like them. While my engineering brain wants to collapse into sleep by evening, my writer brain has other plans. It wakes up at 10:30 PM like a rebellious teenager, flooding me with ideas that, for some reason, didn’t exist all day.
So, there I am — furiously typing away into the night, convincing myself that I’m crafting literary gold, only to finally surrender to sleep somewhere between 11:30 PM and midnight.
Does My Partner Approve of This?
Of course not.
Does she remind me that my sleep schedule is self-inflicted chaos? Yes.
Does she give up on me after countless warnings? Also yes.
At this point, I think she has just accepted that I’m a hopeless, shameless night owl who refuses to reform.
But anyway, the Robin Sharma wake-up surge had finally settled into its natural equilibrium. Some days, I wake up early like a productivity guru; other days, I hit snooze until the guilt kicks in. And sometimes, after a particularly long midnight writing session, I just disable the alarm altogether and let fate decide my wake-up time.
And you know what?
Sleep Entropy: Balance Over Perfection
I’ve accepted it — I’m just not built for strict early mornings, and that’s okay. Some days, I’ll wake up bright-eyed at 5 AM, fueled by ambition and guilt. Other days, I’ll take a well-earned cheat day and stay in bed until 7 AM — because balance is key.
Self-help books will probably say I gave up too soon. But you know what? I’m okay with that. I don’t need to wake up at 5 AM to be successful.
Right now, as I write this, it’s 10:30 PM, and I’m wide awake.
The early bird can have the worm.
I’m going to enjoy my midnight snack instead.
Lessons Learned and Unexpected Wins from My 5 AM Sprint
1. Your sleep cycle is as unique as your fingerprint — and so is your struggle to fix it. What works for Robin Sharma (or that one hyper-productive LinkedIn influencer) may not work for you, and that’s okay.
2. Breaking bad habits is hard, but trying is half the battle. Dragging yourself out of bed earlier than usual is a challenge, but it’s not impossible. Progress may be slow, but slow progress is still progress.
3. Crunches are cruel, but math is kind.
At the start of January, I couldn’t do more than six crunches. By the end, I had worked my way up to ten. That’s a 150% improvement — which means I have achieved record-breaking success in percentage terms. (Take that, fitness influencers.)
4. Yoga and meditation are absolute gems. Even if you swear by workouts, throwing in some yoga a few days a week can work wonders. (And if you accidentally fall asleep during meditation, well, that’s just an advanced level of relaxation.)
5. Not everyone will be inspired by my story. Some people will read this, chuckle, relate to the struggle, and then do absolutely nothing about their own sleep habits. They won’t wake up at 5 AM, they won’t try yoga, and they probably won’t even hit the clap button, despite laughing at least once. (Yes, I see you. 👀)
6. Failure isn’t always bad. Sometimes, failure teaches you something. Other times, failure is just failure. But the worst thing you can do is quit altogether.
Final Takeaway: The Flexible Wake-Up Rule
I’ve finally accepted that I don’t have to force myself into a rigid schedule that doesn’t suit me. If 4 AM works one day, great. If I wake up at 6 AM, so be it. If it’s 8 AM after a late writing session, no guilt. The key is showing up consistently — even if that “consistent” has a little flexibility.
Will I continue my attempts to wake up early? Yes.
Will I fail some days? Most definitely.
Will I quit? Absolutely not.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll be back in a few months with Part 2 — “The 5 AM Experiment: The Sequel No One Asked For.”
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